Since it may or may not be obvious I am a Star Wars fan
, I thought I'd briefly chime in on the Disney purchase and new movies announcement since we're talking about it here.
If Pixar and Marvel are any indication, I think the best way to look at it is that Disney won't be doing much of anything to alter the way Star Wars will come out. They'll be doing a lot of branding and marketing and park expansions for sure, but when it comes to actually making the movies (at least for now) I think they are content to simply provide LucasFilm with the resources it needs to make these movies, but they are still LucasFilm's movies. Since George is stepping back but still acting as a creative consultant, there's a lot more freedom for who will write and direct them (which supposedly has already been decided behind the scenes).
As a long-time fan of the series, I've always been intrigued by that sequel trilogy George talked about but then denied repeatedly once the prequels came out. From what I know prior to the announcement, I'm pretty certain that LucasFilm has always wanted to make this 3rd trilogy but acted like they wouldn't because even they didn't have the resources necessary to undertake that project. Also Kathleen Kennedey has a very very good track record, and there are many big fans of Star Wars, especially the Original Trilogy, in the industry that I think whoever was chosen to write and direct will do it with care and respect.
A lot of fans, whether they loved or hated the prequels, agree that part of the disconnect between the two trilogies was that in the originals George partnered with others to write and direct the films, where in the prequels he pretty much ran the whole show (most likely the people working there wouldn't dare question something that the creator of Star Wars suggested). That's probably why my top two favorites are Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back. George is a very talented idea man, but when it comes to execution of things like dialogue and direction, that isn't his strong suit. With him in a consultant role, and with his story treatments as a general basis, it will be much more like production was on ESB and ROTJ. So I see this only as a very good thing. There's lots more I could say, but I'll leave that for another time.
